After the second week of the American Basketball Association season, the Steel City Yellow Jackets have won back to back games going into week three of the season. Lawrence Baker and Antonio Reddic have lead the charge for the Jackets so far as they look to keep their winning ways going in week three.
Week two of the American Basketball Association season has come and gone, and your Steel City Yellow Jackets are riding high as they have won back to back games after defeating the York Buccaneers on Saturday by the score of 132-102. The Yellow Jackets showed what they can do when the team plays together and communicates on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
The Yellow Jackets have shown the ability to score a lot of points through the first two weeks of the season as they have scored at least 110 points in each of their first three games of the season. Part of this goes to their shooting beyond the arc as three point shots have been falling for the Jackets left and right. In their game on Saturday against York, Lawrence Baker hit four three point shots, Jonathan Logan hit three, and Marcus Smith, Antonio Reddic, Juan Franklin, and Gil Cummings each hit threes in the game.
On Saturday, it was all offense for the Yellow Jackets as they pulled way ahead in the first quarter of play to a 33-7 lead. They would lead at half-time for the third straight game as it was 66-55. Then once again the offense fired up in the third quarter where the Jackets lead 100-78 and, with the help of a strong second half performance by Reddic, the Yellow Jackets would pull away and win by the score of 132-102. The 132 points were the most on the season by the Yellow Jackets to this point in the 2016/2017 season.
The Yellow Jackets were lead offensively once again by veteran Lawrence Baker who had 24 points on the day. He was followed closely behind by Reddic, who had 22 points including 14 in the second half, Juan Franklin, who had 20 points, and Marcus Smith, who had 18 points in the contest. Reddic lead the rebound department pulling in nine on the night to help the Jackets defense stifle the Buccaneers.
Lawrence Baker upped his season total in points to 77 on the year through three games which leads the Yellow Jackets team. Reddic added nine rebounds on Saturday upping his total on the season to a team high 23 rebound. Although Reddic has yet to start a game this season, he has seen the court more than any Yellow Jacket to this point.
That Jackets defense was very good on the night holding the York Buccaneers to just 102 points on the night, a season low on for the team. Coach Ace has been preaching the fact that his team needs to talk on defense, and they did just that in this game. They put pressure on the Buccaneers in their own zone and that forced multiple bad shots that the Jackets were able to capitalize on.
The Jackets also played their first full game of basketball on the season. In their first two games they allowed the other team to stay in the game and that caused the loss on opening night and the narrow win in game two. However, they never let York feel like they were in the ball game and as a result the Buccaneers never had the confidence that they could come back in the game. This team is passionate about the game of basketball and is hungry to win. That hunger is what is going to drive them through this season as they try to march to their third straight playoff appearance.
Along with the win on Sunday, several of the Yellow Jackets made their season debuts including Luke Kochka, Khari Bess, and Melvin Ford. Bess was coming off of injury and was in his first game back where he scored eight points on the night. Kochka had five points in his season debut and Melvin Ford scored two on the night as well. Jason Arrington missed Saturday's game after falling awkwardly on his arm in the game against Reading.
Coach Ace talked about the team having a good week of practice last week, and they will look to do it again this week as they go for their third win in a row. The Yellow Jackets currently sit at 2-1 after picking up their first conference win of the year on Saturday. They will look to build off of their season high 132 points as they take on the Cleveland AM Proers this Satruday at the Barack Obama Academy Gymnasium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Steel City Yellow Jacket Player of the Week: Antonio Reddic
There were so many great performances on Saturday against the York Buccaneers that it was hard to come up with just one player of the week. However, after taking home player of the game on Saturday, Antonio Reddic takes home the crown as this weeks player of the week. Reddic scored 22 points in Saturday's game against the York Buccaneers and picked up nine rebounds. He upped his season total to 23 rebounds which leads the team. As one of the veterans on this team, he will be looked upon to guide the club as they move on into week three of the 2016/2017 season.
Up Next:
The Yellow Jackets will be back in action this Saturday when they take on the Cleveland AM Proers at the Barack Obama Academy gymnasium at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for 10 dollars per adult and five dollars per student at eventbrite.com or at the door. Come on out as your Yellow Jackets try to win their third straight game and be sure to Catch the Buzz.
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